Michael Swickard's new novel about New Mexico

Capitol Report New Mexico - The state Senate primary race between two Republicans fighting to replace outgoing Sen.Clint Harden (R-Clovis) has caused plenty of controversy in eastern New Mexico and now a sitting Republican member of the state House of Representatives has written an opinion piece decrying what she calls “a toxic political environment the likes of which I have never seen before.” Rep.Anna Crook(R-Clovis), who’s represented a conservative district in the Roundhouse since 1995 and is known in the legislature for her courtly demeanor, wrote a column published in theQuay County Sun, weighing in the primary matchingAngie SpearsagainstPat Woods. Spears has been supported by Gov.Susana Martinez, who has donated a totalof $7,300 to the Spears campaign and flew to the district last week to drum up support (in fact, thebelly-first plane landingthat the governor and her husband experienced near the Santa Fe Airport came when Martinez flew back from a Spears rally) while Woods has accused Martinez and political adviser Jay McCleskey of interfering in the race. McCleskey denies that and told theClovis News-Journalearlier this month that “Woods has contributed thousands of dollars to liberal Democrats all over the state.” TheWoods campaign respondedwith a flier depicting McCleskey as “a slick political consultant” trying to divide Republican loyalties in the district. Read More News New Mexico

Anna Crook weighs in on GOP state Senate primary: “I fear our Republican party may be torn apart”

The Republic - TheNew MexicoDepartment ofHealthhas confirmed the first human case of plague in theUnited Statesthis year. Statehealthofficials said Thursday that a 78-year-old man from Torrance County currently is hospitalized in stable condition. His name hasn't been released. They say an environmental investigation will take place at the man's home to look for ongoing risk to others in the surrounding area. Plague is a bacterial disease of rodents and is generally transmitted to humans through the bites of infected fleas. But it can also be transmitted by direct contact with infected animals, including rodents,wildlifeand pets. There were two human cases of plague inNew Mexicolast year but none in 2010. There were six cases in 2009 with one of them fatal. Read More News New Mexico

NM health officials confirm Torrance County man has 1st human case of plague in US this year

Politico - President Bill Clinton veered sharply off message Thursday, telling CNN that Mitt Romney's business record at Bain Capital was "sterling."

"I don't think that we ought to get into the position where we say 'This is bad work. This is good work,'" Clinton said. "The man who has been governor and had a sterling business career crosses the qualification threshold."

Clinton also went on to say that Romney's time at Bain Capital represented a "good business career."

The Obama campaign is in the third week of an all-out assault on Romney's time as a corporate buyout specialist — accusing the GOP nominee of bankrupting companies and laying off workers all while pocketing a profit for himself and investors.

But the negative tenor of their attacks on an influential segment of Wall Street have made some Democrats uncomfortable. Clinton is the highest profile Obama surrogate so far to show discomfort with the attacks on Bain, with the former president even praising the company and Romney's record. Newark mayor Cory Booker and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick also both declined to press the attack against Bain. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Another High Profile Dem Unwilling to Distort the Romney Record at Bain Capital

Congressman Steve Pearce - For two weeks, a massive fire has burned nearly 200,000 acres in the Gila Wilderness and National Forest. This blaze, known as the Whitewater-Baldy Complex Fire, began by a lightning strike, and is well on its way to becoming the worst fire in our state’s history. We appreciate the heroic efforts of the more than 1,000 personnel battling this inferno. These heroes put their lives on the line to help others, and show us what it truly means to be a public servant. Still, thousands of New Mexicans continue to wonder why our forests are allowed to become powder kegs that invite bigger and hotter fires every summer. It isn’t a matter of if our beautiful state’s forests are going to burn—it is only a matter of when. It does not have to be this way.The biggest hindrance is the U.S. Forest Service bureaucracy in Washington, which caters to extreme interest groups that stop responsible forest management. Because the Forest Service refuses to permit logging in our forests, they are overcrowded with trees that go up in flames during droughts, and invite massive conflagrations like we see in the Gila. It would be far easier to thin the forest conscientiously in advance than resort to emergency fire suppression, which risks lives and property. Read More News New Mexico

Washington Times - GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney said Friday that the latest jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, showing the unemployment rate had ticked up to 8.2 percent, is "devastating news" for the nation and more proof that President Obama's economic approach isn't working.

The report showed 69,000 jobs were added in May, far below the 150,000 that many economists had forecast and the Obama administration had hoped.
"This week has seen a cascade of one bad piece of economic news after another," Mr. Romney said in a news release. "Slowing GDP growth, plunging consumer confidence, an increase in unemployment claims and now another dismal jobs report all stand as a harsh indictment of the president's handling of the economy. It is now clear to everyone that President Obama's policies have failed to achieve their goals and that the Obama economy is crushing America's middle class." Read full story here: News New Mexico

(Bloomberg) -- American employers in May added the smallest number of workers in a year and the unemployment rate unexpectedly increased as job-seekers re-entered the workforce. Payrolls climbed by 69,000 last month, less than the most-pessimistic forecast in a Bloomberg News survey, after a revised 77,000 gain in April that was smaller than initially estimated, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The jobless rate rose to 8.2 percent from 8.1 percent, while hours worked declined.

Stocks and Treasury yields plunged as the figures showed a looming recession in the euro area and slower growth in China and Brazil are taking a toll on the U.S. Bigger job and wage gains are needed to jumpstart a self-sustaining increase in hiring and consumer spending.

“The labor market is clearly deteriorating,” Hugh Johnson, chairman and chief investment officer at Albany, New York-based Hugh Johnson Advisors LLC, whose payrolls projection of 75,000 was the closest to the May reading among economists surveyed by Bloomberg. “Confidence in the economy is declining. Businesses are extremely reluctant to add workers when there’s so much uncertainty.” Read full story here: News New Mexico

College graduates received horrible news a few minutes ago. The U.S. economy created only 69,000 jobs in May, the fewest in a year. The nations unemployment rate rose to 8.2%. The Obama Labor Department admitted the economy created far fewer jobs in the previous two months than earlier projections indicated. The DOL revised job creation figures down to show 49,000 fewer jobs were created in March and April.

A couple of months ago President Obama ripped “speculators” because he claimed they control oil prices and when crude topped $108 it hurt the country. Rather than accept any share of the blame for stifling oil production on federal lands through the systematic denial of drilling permits, according to the president, it was all the fault of speculators.We have been watching closely lately. Oil fell below $90 per barrel earlier this week and Jay Carney the White House spokesman has yet to “thank” speculators on behalf of the president for lowering oil prices. Stand by. Surely this president will get around to thanking the people who control oil prices for lowering them. We all know lower oil prices tend to help incumbents. Surely the White House, so quick to blame speculators when oil prices worked against his political ambitions will soon thank speculators now that oil prices have moved dramatically in the other direction. Don't hold your breath.

Daily Caller - During the 11 a.m. hour on MSNBC hosted by Thomas Roberts, Texas Democratic Rep. Shelia Jackson Lee warned of a worst case scenario if a bill proposed by Arizona Republican Rep. Trent Franks to put limitations on sex-selective abortions is signed into law.
Jackson Lee said that, despite “unanimous support” against these sort of abortions, women would be physically removed from clinics if Frank’s proposed law were to be put into effect. “I think the next act will be dragging women out of patient rooms into the streets and screaming over their bodies as they get dragged out of getting access to women’s health care,” she said. “That’s what I feel like is occurring today with the legislation that is on the floor. Thomas, first of all, there is bipartisan and unilateral and unanimous support that we should not have agenda-based abortions for the sake of getting one gender over another. That’s a human, humane and humanitarian issue that none of us quarrel with.”
Jackson Lee explained her opposition stems from what she sees as the bill’s the invasion of privacy, and called the legislation “Draconian.”
“This bill is a direct intrusion into the relationship between patient and physician. We realize that there is a suggestion that cultures around the world do this, but in order to change those cultures, this legislation will not work,” she said. “What you really need is an affirmation of the value of women, and today PRENDA [Prenatal Non-discrimation Act] is an affirmation of the devaluing of woman because what it does is demonizes the physician and the woman, particularly here in the United States.” Read full story here: News New Mexico

KOAT - When someone in Albuquerque calls 911, they usually expect to get help right away. But, firefighters said residents are getting shortchanged because of politics, and it could cost someone their life. Some firefighters said they believe county fire crews should have responded when a drunken driving suspect crashed into a home and exploded into a ball of fire. However, county crews couldn't, because the home was within city limits.
"There was a county fire station, Station 36, which was about a mile away," said Robert Sanchez, the vice president of the Albuquerque Area Firefighters Union Local 244. Jurisdictional boundaries prevent the closest fire crews from responding, and Sanchez said an agreement between the city and county hasn't been made for years.
"We've been asking for several years now, 'Why hasn't it been signed?'" he said. City Fire Deputy Chief Tige Watson said that finally, this summer, the jurisdictional boundaries will be dropped, and both the city and county are preparing for the change. "They're training on it right now," Watson said. "Like I said, this is something that's never been done. I don't think they care which primary firefighters show up, which color the engine they're in -- red, purple green. I don't think it matters at that point," Sanchez said. Read full story here: News New Mexico